There has been known a stepped portion or a hand catcher which an occupant catches with his hand when he rides on a small-sized surface boat from a water surface. Referring to FIG. 8, for example, Japanese Patent Publication 2849578 discloses a small-size surface boat having a stepped portion and a hand catcher. FIG. 8 is a side view of a conventional small-sized surface boat. To enable an occupant 101 to ride on the boat 100 from a water surface 102, the boat 100 is provided with a stepped portion 104 in the vicinity of a seat 103 at a rear portion thereof and also is provided with a hand catcher 106 at a side portion thereof and on an vertical wall 105 thereof in the vicinity of the seat 103.
When the occupant 101 rides on the small-sized surface boat 100 from the water surface 102, the occupant 101 extends his left hand 108 and catches the stepped portion 104 and, at the same time, extends his right hand 109 and catches the hand catcher 106. Making use of the hand catcher 106, the occupant 101 lifts his body from the water surface 102 and can ride on the small-sized surface boat 100.
However, in the conventional small-sized surface boat 100, since the stepped portion 104 is provided in the vicinity of the seat 103, a position of the stepped portion 104 becomes excessively high from the water surface 102. Further, since the hand catcher 106 is provided in the vicinity of the seat 103 at a side portion of the small-sized surface boat 100, the position of the hand catcher 106 becomes excessively remote from the occupant 101.
On the other hand, even when the occupant 101 extends his left and right hands 108, 109 from the water surface 102, it is difficult for his left and right hands 108, 109 to reach the stepped portion 104 and the hand catcher 106. Since the occupant 101 cannot easily catch the stepped portion 104 and the hand catcher 106 with his left and right hands 108, 109, the occupant 101 cannot ride the small surface boat 100 easily.
Further, since the hand catcher 106 is mounted below a deck 100a, when the occupant 101 moves on the deck 100a, there may be a case that the hand catcher 106 obstructs the movement of the occupant 101.
In addition, to attach the hand catcher 106 to the vertical wall 105 of the small-sized surface boat 100, the hand catcher 106 is formed of a single body and is set to a mounting opening (not shown in the drawing) formed in the vertical wall 105 and, thereafter, the hand catcher 106 is mounted on the vertical wall 105 using a small bolt.
In this manner, since the hand catcher 106 and the vertical wall 105 are constituted of members separate from each other, the number of parts increases and hence, the manufacturing steps become cumbersome thus impeding the enhancement of the productivity.